


Memories become Songs

by EdithWinters



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 13 get angry, Angst, Diary/Journal, Explanations, F/F, Fluff, Multi, Reunions, Reveal, River Song's Diary, The Library, Wedding Rings, Yaz is too damn curious, but only for a little bit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:09:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28022199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdithWinters/pseuds/EdithWinters
Summary: Yaz explores the TARDIS and finds a few things. First a diary and later a ring. The Doctor opens up to her fam about River. Basically a series of somewhat connected one-shots with River in the 13 Era. One day that might even meet her.
Relationships: The Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan (mentioned)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 123





	1. The Diary

Yaz turned another corner and sighed. She had been searching for her room for almost half an hour. It seemed as though the TARDIS was intentionally shifting its corridors, creating an endless labyrinth of strange rooms. At last she came to a dead end. Assuming the door on the end was hers, she opened it. Yaz gasped. It was not her room. It was the Doctor’s study.

The vaulted ceilings stretched up and up until Yaz couldn’t see where they stopped. The walls had glassed in bookcases and old-fashioned natural history cases. The cases were filled with pressed plant samples, skeletons of various creatures, many who were definitely not from earth. To Yaz’s surprise there was a collection of guns, swords, blasters, and other weapons. Artifacts from pens to golden masks, to a jar of glowing green gas filled many of the cases. On the far end of the room was a large desk. Walking over to it, Yaz saw that there were a few framed photos and assorted objects scattered on its worn wooden surface. 

One of the pictures was black and white. An old man, a middle aged man and woman, and a young girl with a pixie haircut smiled out of the frame. The other was of another group. In the center was a skinny man with a bowtie. He was being hugged by a ginger woman and a man in a nurse’s uniform. There was another woman in that photo too. She was beautiful with a mane of golden curls. She had a gun on her hip and was leaning over the ginger to kiss Bowtie's cheek. He looked incredibly pleased with himself. 

In the center of the desk was a tattered blue book. Sitting in the ancient chair, Yaz reached for it. Flipping it open she saw at once that it was a diary. The neat cramped cursive had bled in places from what looked like tear stains. Was it the Doctor’s diary? 

Demon’s Run

I told him who I am. When I next see him, that man won’t have a clue who I am anymore. I dread the day that I will look into his eyes and he won’t have the faintest idea who I am. Amy and Rory know too. I wonder if they’ll know who I am when I next see them. Part of me knows they won’t. At least I can visit them.

This was his darkest hour, he rose higher than ever before and then fell so much farther. That man. He has so much power and influence and he doesn’t even realize it. He can turn an army around at the mention of his name, he terrifies people so much they formed the Silence to stop him. And now he knows that too. He knows why I tried to kill him. Why I did kill him.   
He was so angry when I showed up at the end of the battle, after his friends had been killed, after I had been lost. At least the old poem makes sense now.

Demons run when a good man goes to war  
Night will fall and drown the sun  
When a good man goes to war

Friendship dies and true love lies  
Night will fall and the dark will rise  
When a good man goes to war

Demons run, but count the cost  
The battle's won, but the child is lost

“Yaz?” She looked up. The Doctor was standing in the doorway. She walked over to where Yaz was sitting and saw the book. She stilled. “You shouldn’t have read that.” 

“Who-”

“It’s private. Get out.” Yaz had never heard the Doctor’s voice so cold. Her eyes were hard and there was so much pain behind them. “Get out now.” Yaz stared at her friend. “NOW!”

Yaz jumped. The Doctor had never shouted at her like that before. She left the room as quickly as she could, closing the door quietly behind her. Yaz slumped against the cool metal of the door. She could hear the Doctor crying on the other side.


	2. The Ring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yaz finds a wedding ring in the depths of the TARDIS. She and the Fam theorize about its story and the reason for the Doctor's bad mood. After Fugitive of the Judoon.

Yaz was sitting on the steps of the TARDIS. The Doctor had been in a bad mood since they’d met the master and it had only worsened after their run-in with the Judoon. The Doctor had left to repair something and they were floating aimlessly through the Vortex. 

Glancing down she saw something shiny deep in the grate of the TARDIS. When she stooped down, she saw that it was a ring. Maybe a meter down and lodged in the machinery. Strange place for a ring. 

She pulled the panel up and carefully reached her arm into the gap. After a few tries she had retrieved her prize. She replaced the panel and held the ring up to the light. It was a simple band inscribed with that swirling circular language that was on the TARDIS console. That was the Doctor’s native language. 

She walked around the twisting hallways for a bit until she found Graham and Ryan in the kitchen. “Hey look what I found under the grate in the console room” she put the ring on the table between them.

“Is that a wedding ring?” Ryan had picked it up and was examining it. 

“I think so. I was wondering if it was the Doctor’s. It has those same circles on it”

“Nah I don’t think so” Graham put the ring on his finger, “Much too big for the Doc.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, “Do you think it was her partner’s? Is that why she’s been in such a bad mood lately?”

“That would make sense. If she got dumped or something. Like maybe they threw the ring at her and it fell through the grate.”

“Come off it, the Doc would have mentioned if she was in a relationship.”

“Would she? She doesn’t tell us anything. We don’t even know her name.”

“Yeah but a relationship’s different.”

“Hi fam, I was just-” The Doctor had just walked in and she had frozen at the sight of the ring.

“Oh Doctor, I found this and-”

“You found my ring!” She beamed her first true smile in months, “Where did you find it?”

“It was under the grate in the console, tucked into some wires.”

“It must have fallen off when I regenerated.” She slipped the ring onto her finger but it was clearly too big.

“Regenerated?”

“Died.” Her companions stared at her. “When TIme Lords die, we regenerate. Every cell in our body changes and we become a new person. I wasn’t kidding when I told you I was a White-haired scotsman. He had bigger fingers than I do and the ring must’ve slipped off and fallen into the TARDIS”

“I have an idea.” Yaz reached up around her neck and unclasped her necklace. She removed the charm and handed the chain to the Doctor. “Here. You can string your ring on that.” The Doctor did and she beamed at her fam.

There was one question on all of their minds but it was Ryan who spoke first “Who were they Doctor?” Yaz didn't expect the Doctor to answer. She had dodged all their other questions after all, but she was pleasantly surprised. 

“Her name was River Song.” Her eyes shone with tears as she spoke, “She was the daughter of two of my companions and our timelines were back to front. The first time I met her, she died. The first time she met me, not including when she was a baby, she killed me.” She said this last bit in the same way one might say ‘she took me to my favorite restaurant.’

The Doctor chuckled, “My bespoke psychopath.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed. I've been wanting to write this for a few years and finally got around to it. Please comment, I'd genuinely like some feedback. Thanks :)


	3. The Library

Yaz was sitting on the couch staring at the tv but not really watching the program. It had been almost a month since the Doctor had dropped them off. She had said that she would be gone for one week and while Yaz enjoyed her time at home, she missed the Doctor and their adventures. 

She was also somewhat worried about the Doctor. When they had parted, she had seemed distant and sad. To be fair, she had seemed that way since they had come back from their adventure with Jack. She still hadn’t told them about what happened when they were with him. 

And now she was three weeks late. Yaz kept telling herself that the Doctor was fine. She was probably just having trouble with the TARDIS, it wouldn’t be the first time. 

A horrible, amazing, beautiful wheezing filled the air, breaking off Yaz’s train of thought. A smile spread across Yaz’s face as she vaulted off the couch and into her room. She grabbed the suitcase that had been packed and waiting under her bed for weeks. 

She closed the door to her room and almost crashed into her mom. 

“And where are you going in such a hurry?” Her mother gestured toward the suitcase in Yaz’s hand. The smile fell from Yaz’s face and her mind scrambled for something to say. 

“Um. Traveling! With friends!” Yaz grinned, happy that she hadn’t had to lie. Her mother raised an eyebrow. Only then did she realize that she had been way too chipper.

“Friends?” Her mother said slowly.

“Yes, friends.”

“Which friends?” A pause. “Yaz. Which friends?”

“Graham, Ryan, and the Doctor. I’m not sure when we’ll be back but it should be soon, the Doctor seems to be better at steering the ship now.” Yaz tried to push past her mom but was blocked once again.

“You’re traveling with a man about your age, his grandfather, and an eccentric woman I barely know?” 

“That’s it in a nutshell, but I really have to go.” She turned and practically ran out the door. 

“Yaz!” Her mother was cut off by the apartment door slamming in her face.

______________________________________________________________________

As Yaz left the building, she saw the beautiful blue police box sitting on the lawn. Her grin widened at seeing the TARDIS. She threw open the door and glanced around the console room.

“Doctor?” Yaz called out, closing the doors behind her.

“Yaz!” The Doctor popped out from behind the console, grinning. It was nice to see her smile but it was a less manic and less genuine smile than she was used to and Yaz wondered for the millionth time what was going on in her mind. 

“Where’ve you been, Doctor?”

“Oh, you know me. I’ve been all over, stopping criminals, inventing foods a few centuries early, saving planets.” Her smile faltered and her eyes clouded with pain. It only lasted a moment but Yaz had still caught it. Gallifrey. Of course she was still mourning her home. 

“Anyways,” The Doctor pulled a lever and the TARDIS moved. The trip was a lot smoother than normal, as if the machine sensed her thief’s pain and wanted to give her an easy ride for once. 

They landed by Ryan and Graham’s house and within a few minutes they were all on board. 

“So where do want to go?” The three companions looked at each other, Graham and Yaz nodded at Ryan.

“Well, I’ve always wanted to see ancient Egypt,” he offered.

“Brilliant! Ancient Egypt it is!”

“Can we see Cleopatra?” Ryan asked. Something Yaz couldn’t quite make out flashed across the Doctor’s face and she stiffened slightly. “Nevermind, it was a stup-”

“No, of course we can go see Cleopatra! The real Cleopatra that is. She shouldn’t recognize me, not with this face” She spun around the console, flipping switches, pulling levers, and spinning around the console like it was a dance she knew by heart.

The TARDIS shuddered and began to wheeze and shake as it traveled through the time vortex. When they landed, the Doctor went over to check the monitor. The frown that crossed her face then was one Yaz knew well by now. They hadn’t landed in the right spot. 

“Not Egypt, but then where-” She broke off, eyes widening. Then she saw the date. The Doctor took a step backward, stumbling and catching herself on one of the pillars. 

“Doc?” Graham was looking at the Doctor, concern all over his face. The Doctor didn’t respond, “You alright love?”

“Fine Graham. I just-” She took a deep breath before making a frustrated noise in the back of her throat. The Doctor glanced up, “Why did you bring me here?!” 

The TARDIS hummed in response.

“It’s not even like I could talk to her, she’s not even here!” The TARDIS chirped back. The Doctor slammed her hand on the console, “This is the day she was on Trenzalore, the day I said-” The TARDIS hummed, loud and angry this time. “Fine!” The Doctor stormed out of the TARDIS, slamming the door behind her.

“Should we go after her?” Ryan sounded unsure. He still wasn’t used to seeing The Doctor that angry, none of them were. 

“Yes. She needs us.” Yaz said. She and Ryan looked at Graham. 

He shrugged, “What the hell, why not?” The three walked out of the TARDIs nd into an enormous room with a vaulted ceiling and vast windows. The room had an information desk and stacks of books lining the walls. 

A few people were standing by the desk and all were staring at the TARDIS with wide eyes and open mouths. 

The TARDIS doors snapped shut, making Ryan jump slightly. Yaz walked over to one of the people closest to the TARDIS.

“There was a blonde woman who left that box shortly before us. Do you know which way she went?”

The woman pointed dumbly to a hallway and Yaz thanked her before grabbing Ryan and Graham and heading after the Doctor. They found her a few minutes later. She was sitting on a stack of books overlooking a section of the library. Her eyes were fixed on a little blue book resting on the rail. 

“Doctor?” Her head shot up at the sound of Ryan’s voice. He gestured toward the book, “What’s that?” Yaz looked at the book in question and her eyes went wide. It was the book that she had found in the TARDIS. The one that looked like the TARDIS. The one the Doctor had yelled at her for reading. 

“Oh! What? It’s nothing. I was just lost in thought.” She stood and chanced a quick glance at Yaz. “Well, let’s go figure out why the TARDIS sent us here. Graham, Ryan, Yaz, look around and see what you can find out. I’ll go talk to CAL.”

“Cal?”

“She’s the interface that runs this library. It seems like they finally managed to get rid of the Vasta Narada and reopened the Library, so you all should be safe.”

“Doc, this place is huge. If we separate, we may never find each other,”

“Graham’s right, we should stick together.”

The Doctor sighed. “Fine.” She swiped the book off the rail and stuffed it into her pocket. Come on you lot.”

___________________________________

They wandered down the stairways and corridors, secret doors, and through several closed off areas. There was no one this deep in the library but the Doctor seemed to know where she was going. 

At last they entered a room filled with wires and buttons and- Yaz froze. Ryan crashed into her.

“Yaz!” Ryan complained. She pointed mutely toward a chair in the right side of the room. On the chair was a skeleton with a white collar around its neck. The Doctor had stormed through the room and toward a panel on the far side, not glancing once toward the chair. 

“Doctor…” She turned to face Yaz and followed her gaze. The color drained from the Doctor’s face and she balled her fists into her coat. Yaz could see tears forming in her eyes but the Doctor spun away, back to the panel. 

Graham walked forward and picked up a broken pair of handcuffs.   
“Huh. Wonder what these are doin here.” 

“Put them down Graham.” The Doctor’s voice was soft and low.

“What?”

“Please. Put the blasted things down.” Graham gently placed the cuffs on the ground, looking startled. 

“Thank you. I’m sorry I just can’t deal with all this on top of- on top of everything. I thought they would have cleaned up her body by now.” Her voice broke.

“Doc,” Graham began gently, “What-”

“I was here a long time ago. That woman died to save me. I had never met her before but I kept meeting younger versions of her after that and… We should take her with us. We can’t bury her; her DNA is too valuable. She’ll have to be cremated. I just… I can’t leave her here to be discovered by some random person one day.”

“Okay, we’ll take her with us. Is this why the TARDIS brought us here? To give her body a proper send off?” Yaz kept her voice as gentle as she could. She could see that the Doctor, normally so composed and stable, was on the verge of shattering into a million tiny pieces. 

“Maybe. The TARDIS was always fond of River. She was a child of the TARDIS you know. She would always joke that she could fly the TARDIS better than I could, although I’m not actually sure she was joking.” The Doctor’s gaze was so fond and so full of love that it made Yaz’s chest ache. 

Graham reached out and put a hand on her arm. “She sounds great Doc. And we’ll take her back to the TARDIS. She’ll be safe there, yeah?” The Doctor nodded and accepted Graham’s hug. 

He and Yaz had made the connection that Ryan hadn’t. River. This corpse had been someone called River. The Doctor’s wife had been named River. This skeleton was the remains of the Doctor’s wife.


	4. The Cell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yaz gets thrown into a cell with an interesting occupant. Post Timeless-Child but Graham and Ryan are still traveling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I was having a bit of writer's block so I just decided to cut the chapter in half. The next update should be in the next week.

The guard tossed Yaz into the cell. She stumbled but caught herself on the wall. She turned and ran back toward the door but the guard scowled and slammed it in her face. She let out a howl of frustration and banged her head on the solid metal door. 

“Don’t worry dear.” Yaz whipped around and took in her surroundings for the first time. There was another figure in the cool metal box of a cell. She was tall and curvy, middle aged with a wild mane of blonde hair. She looked vaguely familiar but Yaz couldn’t place her face. 

The woman’s expression was kind but there was something in her eyes that made Yaz’s skin crawl. They were too calculating, too knowing.

“We won’t be in here for very long.”

“How do you know? Why are we in here?” Yaz asked. She had been on a mission with the Doctor one minute and the next, someone was shooting something into her arm. When she had come to, she was being dragged out of a strange vehicle. Then they had brought her here. Wherever here was. 

“Bait. Leverage. Ransom. Take your pick. They’re just using us to get to someone else.”

“Oh.” Yaz swallowed. She must be bait for the Doctor. There was no one else who would care enough and be able to find her. “Who are you here for?”

“I would guess my husband. There are a few possibilities but he seems the most likely.” She paused and looked at Yaz for a moment, thinking. “You wouldn’t happen to travel with a man who promised to show you the stars, would you?”

“Huh? No. I travel with my friend, his grandad, and my…” She fished around for the right word to describe her relationship with the Doctor, “friend.” She finished lamely. 

The woman raised an eyebrow. “A bit more than a friend I think.”

Yaz blushed, thankful it was hard to see on her dark skin, “I-I don’t know. Sometimes I think she’s my girlfriend but then… She just can’t be put into a box like that I suppose. I love her and I think she loves me, but only as a friend. But that’s okay. She had some past relationships but she seems a bit above it all somehow.”

The woman smiled warmly, as if she knew exactly what Yaz was talking about.

“I think I know how you feel. More than you realize probably. Even after centuries of being married, I wasn’t sure if my husband loved me.” She sighed, “Loving him is like loving the stars or an exceptionally beautiful sunset,” She laughed softly at a memory before shaking her head and raising her eyes to meet Yaz’s. 

“I’m professor Song by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Professor. I’m Yaz. Yasmin Khan.”  
___________________________________________________________  
“My husband really should be here to break me out by now.” Professor Song paused, considering, “Unless the old girl is taking him on some side adventures.”

“Don’t worry, my friends should be here soon.” As if on cue, the door -which had disappeared into the wall earlier- burst open. In the doorway was Ryan. He beamed when he saw Yaz,

“Yaz!” 

“Ryan!” She threw her arms around him and hugged him, “About damn time.” She teased. He smiled then and turned, shouting over his shoulder,

“Guys! I found her! Over here!” A few moments later, Graham and the Doctor ran in. The Doctor made a beeline for Yaz and she pulled her into a tight embrace.

“What do you know, your rescue party got here first.” The Doctor’s head whipped around at the sound of the professor’s voice. She froze, mouth hanging open slightly. 

“It’s not nice to stare dear.” Professor Song teased. “I’m Professor-”

“River.” The Doctor’s voice was barely a whisper and full of disbelief. 

Of course. That’s where Yaz had known her from. She had been in one of the pictures on the Doctor’s desk. Wait. Her name was River, that meant she was…

River was looking the Doctor up and down, eyes narrowed. “So you’ve heard of me then?” 

The Doctor snorted, “You could say that. I suppose I do know quite a bit about you, Melody,” she put emphasis on the last word, though Yaz wasn’t sure why. River’s face broke into a wide smile and the two women embraced, hugging each other tightly. The Doctor’s shoulders began to shake and to everybody’s surprise it sounded like she was crying. The Doctor never cried. Ever. 

Yaz glanced at Ryan and Graham who looked extremely confused and slightly concerned. But then River pushed the Doctor to arms length and lifted her chin.

“Sweetie?” River began. The Doctor met her eyes, a last tear making its way down her cheek. “I take it you haven’t seen me in a while.” The Doctor nodded and River seemed to make a decision. She leaned forward and pulled the Doctor into a kiss. Ryan’s jaw dropped. Yaz and Graham exchanged surprised looks.

River pulled her wife closer and the Doctor buried her hands in River’s hair, kissing and holding her as if she could disappear in an instant. 

Yaz looked away. It seemed too personal. Too human. She walked through the still open door of the cell and out into the sterile hallway. Graham followed her lead and nudged Ryan to do the same. 

“Who’s that then?” Ryan asked when they were far enough away to be overheard. 

“She’s the Doc’s wife.” Graham had a strange look on his face. The Doctor had thought her wife dead. Hell, they still had her skeleton somewhere on the TARDIS. But here she was alive and well. Graham was no doubt thinking about Grace and what it would be like to be able to see her again. 

“Really? Damn, how’d the Doctor manage that one?” Yaz smiled. 

“Careful she’s spoken for.” She teased back

“How’d you know who she was Yaz?” 

“She said her name was River and that’s the name of the Doctor’s wife. Alsoshe had a picture on her desk of this woman, so I figured it’s probably the same River. And that whole interaction back there didn’t exactly scream ‘platonic’.” 

“Huh. It was hard enough picturing the Doctor being married, like as a concept. But actually meeting her partner makes it all seem so much stranger.”

___________________________

A few minutes later, the Doctor joined them in the hall. Her eyes were red and it looked like she had been crying some more. She had her phone out and seemed to be texting someone.

“Where’s River?” 

The Doctor kept her eyes fixed on the phone. “Back in the cell.”

“You’re just going to leave her there?” Yaz couldn’t keep the accusation from her tone.

The Doctor sighed, “Of course not, I’m texting my past self and telling him to pick her up.”

“Right.” Graham paused like he was waiting for a further explanation. He didn’t get one. “So, why?”

“The last time I saw her, on Darillium, she didn’t know about this face. That was right before-before the Library. So if she didn’t know about this face, she’s never supposed to know about it. She didn’t even know about Eyebrows. I had to wipe her memory of this encounter…” The Doctor shoved her phone into her coat pocket and looked up at last, “So, shall we get back to saving the people of Hydrakia?”

“Doctor, if you want to talk to-”

“Nothing to talk about. I’ve said goodbye to her half a dozen times now and and every time I get close to being over her, I meet her again and my hearts break all over again.”

“Isn’t there some way to save her?” 

“Nope. I managed to preserve her mind in a computer for a few centuries but even that’s faded to nothing by now. I’ve thought of every possible way to save her and I can’t-she gave up her regenerations to save...me.” Her eyes widened and a smile snuck its way onto her face. Yaz knew that look. The Doctor had an idea.

“That’s it! I didn’t know before but now I do. I can-wait but I’d have to go back. But the skeleton… We found it, it’s a fixed point but… That’s it! The military base, I can fake it, all I have to do is…YES! I can save her! I can save River!”

She kept rambling as she sprinted away from her companions. They all glanced at each other before chasing after their eccentric alien.


	5. The Kiss

The TARDIS whirred and landed with a groan. The Doctor was out the door in an instant, her three companions hot on her heels. 

Yaz once again found herself in the Library with the vaulted ceiling but it looked different. It was darker and looked almost abandoned. People all in black milled about, talking to a few others in white space suits. 

The Doctor pushed past them all and ran through the strange path they had taken the last time they were here. In no time they found themselves back in the room where they had found River’s skeleton. But it wasn’t a skeleton. At least not yet. She was clearly dead, but she seemed to be recently dead.

The Doctor scurried around, flipping switches and pulling gadgets from her pockets. 

“When River died, I downloaded part of her mind into this computer, CAL. She followed me and went on some dreamscape adventures. If I’m to bring her back, she should have those memories,” She plugged what looked like a battered old sonic screwdriver into the computer, “I didn’t realize what she was when I first met her, when she died. She’s part Time Lord and we take forever to completely die. If I had known I probably would have taken her with me and waited until she was completely dead, then burned the body. Thank the stars I didn’t.” She pressed a button and the computer emitted a whine and began to print something. 

“You see, I’ve recently learned some stuff about myself. In theory I should have infinite regenerations, or at least a lot. I’ve already used a lot but I don't actually know what species I am or what the rules originally were.” She grabbed the small drive that had been printed and started sonicing it. “It was stupid Rassillion and his gauntlet who limited regeneration, even though he knew that it wasn’t his... to control...wait.” Her eyes had widened. Yaz recognized that face. The Doctor had made a breakthrough, “Oooh. Of course. But-no. No no no no” she looked around the room as if it held the answers to her questions and then at her fam, “He controls regeneration and made himself seem like God in our history.” She paused like that should mean something, “He’s always paid me particular attention, even if it was negative. He’s one of the oldest and most powerful timelords and he holds the key to regeneration.” She looked at them as if waiting for the penny to drop. It didn’t. 

“Doc?”

“He’s Tecteun.”

“Who?” The Doctor looked from her to the others. Yaz could see the gears turning in her head as she sifted through explanations.

“Nevermind. I’ll just have to sit and stare at a wall for a few decades sorting through the implications of that. The important thing is that I can save River. When the Master burned Gallifrey, I saw some things in the Matrix. I have more regeneration energy than I thought I did. I don't know how much so she’ll still be right ticked at me but if I use a similar vessel to channel the energy-yes. This could work.”  
______________________________________

The Doctor had run back to the TARDIS, presumably to work on whatever device she would use to bring River back, leaving her fam with the task of carrying River back to the TARDIS. It took them the better part of an hour to carry her back through the twisting corridors and secret passages. 

When they finally got back to the TARDIS the Doctor was running about like mad, talking to her ship in a strange musical language. The TARDIS mirrored her excitement, beeping and glowing warmer than Yaz had ever seen her. 

They carefully set River down by the consol. Graham straightened and his back gave a few concerning pops, “I’m too old for this,” he muttered but she could tell he wasn’t annoyed. 

“So Doctor, what about the skeleton we found in the Library? If we brought her skeleton back onto the TARDIS and now her body before it decomposed, then aren’t we breaking some time rule or something?” Ryan called out toward the console. 

“Well after we bring River back, I’m going to just drop the skeleton back off at the Library. Self-fulfilling prophecy and all that. A skeleton that we thought was River’s being there is a fixed point but her dying and decomposing there isn’t one. We don’t know for sure that it happened. It’s like that one time I saw my ghost and thought that my death was a fixed point but I changed it by making a hologram ghost. Got it!” The Doctor shouted. She ran over holding a contraption that looked more like a tangle of wires and parts than a finished device. She put a node on each temple and two on her [pronoun problem] chest. Did River have two hearts like the Doctor? She seemed to. 

The Doctor slid a drive into a slot on the main part of the device and sonicked it. A red light flickered to life on the side of one panel. Beaming, she set the device next to River. She placed one hand on the device and used the other to cup River’s cheek. Yaz watched as she began to glow with a warm golden light. Then the Doctor bent down and kissed her wife. 

The light got brighter as it enveloped the couple, ethereal golden strands winding around them and the strange device. After a few seconds the lights began to dim and the Doctor pulled away. River’s eyes fluttered open. Her pupils dilated, adjusting to the light as she took in the remaining threads of gold. 

“Doctor?” The Doctor smiled. A watery, jubilant, life could not be any better smile. 

“Yeah,” River smiled back for a moment and then slapped the Doctor. Yaz gasped and tried to step forward but was pulled back by Graham.

“That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy! How many times do I have to tell you, I’m not worth it. You could have wasted all your remaining regenerations and then where would the universe be?” The Doctor was still grinning stupidly. She had expected that, Yaz realized with a jolt.

“Nah, I knew I’d be fine,” She patted the device, “This did a bunch a stuff but that was one of its purposes. I used it kind of like Rassilion’s gauntlet to channel my regeneration energy.” She beamed at her wife, “You have one more regeneration after this. I thought I owed you for that time you gave me all your regenerations now that I have some to spare.” 

River narrowed her eyes, “Some to spare?”

“I’ll tell you about it later but the important thing is you’re back and alive and have all your memories and I’m also fine and, well, I suppose we have a skeleton to drop off in the library and-” River cut her off with a kiss.

“Sweetie.”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so hard to write. I knew all the pieces to bring River back since the beginning but I had some major writer's block trying to put them all together. I hope it came out okay. I have a few more chapter ideas in mind and I've already written more than half of the next chapter. Please let me know what ya'll think, I'm so happy and surprised at how popular this is, thank you all so much.


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